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The role of communications has changed. The expectations are higher. The margin for error is smaller.
Earning Your Seat is a podcast for communications leaders operating under changed expectations without a clear playbook.
Hosted by Dino Delic, Stephanie Lerdall, and Genevieve Brammall, the show places the hosts inside an experience many communicators recognize. Smart, capable leaders learning in real time how influence is earned, tested, and sustained.
Each episode features candid conversations with leaders across communications, data, media, and technology. Alongside those conversations, the hosts test ideas in real time, question what they have been taught, and confront where common advice breaks down under organizational pressure.
This is not aspirational thought leadership. It is a practical look at growth as it happens. How communicators earn trust, collaborate across functions, and lead with authority in a world moving faster than the role itself.
Pull up a chair. The work begins now.
Dino Delic (00:00):
This is powered by Meltwater. I'll be honest with you. I've been sitting on this one for a while because it hit close to home. I use AI every day. I have my prompts, my workflows, my way of doing things. Some of them are so specific they'd probably be terrifying to a normal person, but they work for me. The question I couldn't shake after this conversation is what happens when you actually have to scale that across a team? Dan Nessel has been thinking about this longer than most. He's a veteran communication strategist who's done the hard work of moving AI from personal habit to organizational capability, and he doesn't pretend it's simple. In this excerpt, Steph asks him about the gap between individual upskilling and organizational readiness. His answer is refreshingly honest. AI literacy is inconsistent. Governance creates friction and the cultural barriers to progress often show up before technology questions do.
(01:13):
If you're sitting on a team where some people are running with AI and others are quietly waiting it out, Dan's talking directly to you. So have a listen.
Stephanie Lerdall (01:23):
I'm interested in the perspective. Oftentimes we say a one-man PhD or this, and I find that my experimentation with AI to be a very one-to-one experience. It's pulling from my files, my knowledge base, and I'm having a dialogue that isn't really shared. But I lead a team of 20 global professionals and whatever I'm upskilling myself on is not helping me. I need the whole team. I need them all to be GEO experts. I need them all to upskill. I need them all to use the same agent in the same way. So what are some practical things that if you're an RC, genuine CEO leading a team inside in- house function, what should we be doing?
Dan Nestle (02:07):
Yeah, it wasn't that long ago that I was doing that and trying to get in the early days of AI way back in 2023 and 2024, how do we build a culture and a workflow that encourages us to experiment with AI along the way in a safe way that's going to actually bring us benefits and bring us the kind of either the innovation or the productivity benefits or the efficiencies that AI promises. There's no formula at this time for how that works because as you said, Steph, it's a one-to-one kind of relationship you start to build with the AI. You're going to connect different dots than I will or than Dino will or Gen will. And that takes you down these different directions in AI with when you're interacting with AI and you will come to different places. But as you said, that could be helpful for you for something that you're working on it for one time.
(02:54):
But across your team, there are huge gaps in AI literacy from person to person and from organization to organization. And you often hear things like, first we need to have a policy, we need to have governance, and then we need to figure out what tool we're going to allow people to use for 47 minutes a day. And there's so many limitations that are placed on. So in many ways, there's disincentives to move forward with AI in large especially larger organizations. It just seems like a hassle before it starts because it is. And that's a fundamental work culture problem. That is an issue that has to be solved from the top down. It's not going to be solved by everybody just taking a couple courses on AI. I think as a team, you need to get comfortable with it together first.
Dino Delic (03:37):
Here's the thing Dan said that I couldn't stop thinking about. The problem with scaling AI isn't the tools. It isn't even the training. It's the culture. And you can't policy your way out of a culture problem. What moves teams forward isn't a perfect framework handed down from the above. It's leaders who are willing to experiment in public, reduce the friction for others and make it safe not to have all the answers yet. One question to sit with is where on your team is AI used thriving and what is it about that environment that's making it work? I'm Dino Delic and the full conversation with Dan and every episode of Earning Your Seat is on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you happen to get your podcasts.